I'm Sioux Roslawski and this is my blog about writing, dogs, grown-up children, menopause, the joy of a marvelous book, classroom teaching in general, and specifically, the teaching of writing. You can email me at sroslawski(at)yahoo(dot)com.

The Pyrenees---Southern France

Monday, September 8, 2014

Second Chances

Two days ago, Queenie found a home. Another dog rescue friend and I drove close to an hour to do the home visit and--if it was love at first sight--leave Queenie with her new family. Normally, Love a Golden does a home visit and THEN arrangements are made to transfer the dog to their new home, once the family has been approved. However, Queenie is a special case. She's a former puppy mill dog. She's traumatized by riding in the car. She takes a while to get acclimated. And since this family has had puppy mill girls before, we figured if they fell for her, making ANOTHER trip with her (and thus making her even more nervous) was not necessary. The family did fall in love with Queenie--who is now Lady--and it's obvious that she will soon be Lady of the House. Her new mom and dad have a Serta dog bed for her. (Their daughter--a vet--joked that when Sleep Number dog beds come out, her parents will buy one of those.) They have a better-than-perfect backyard. We're hoping they have enough patience.

This was Queenie. Now, she's Lady.

And Queenie is not a typical gorgeous golden. She's shorter than most golden retrievers. She has a different (but definitely cute) face. Her front legs are terribly bowed--she resembles an old, out-of-shape wrestler. And don't forget the baggage--she has loads of baggage. If a couple of people are believing in Queenie enough to give her a second chance, perhaps I need to believe in my WIP enough to get back to it--I mean really get back to it. I've been in a rut lately. Working on shorter pieces. Vegging out. Even reorganizing my nightmare-of-an-office/spare bedroom. Doing anything except working on my NaNoGoneWrongo. Will I get back to it? Only time will tell...And hey! If you want to find out how diamonds are Sioux's best friends, go here. You can also get a message about new postings from me (or even get my post via email? I'm not sure how it works) by clicking on a little box-thingy that Cathy C. Hall insisted I install. (Cathy, it took 13 hours and 9 minutes, but I did it! Really, it took less than 13 seconds. I feel bad I didn't do it sooner.)

16 comments:

I hope Lady is finally happy. So sad to think of abused dogs. I don't think ours was abused much although when we take out the leash for a walk she cowers terribly although she likes a walk once she is leashed. Someone must have hit her with one at some time.

I love a good dog story with a happy ending. My little Cujo was so timid when I took him into the pack here and it has taken nearly a year for him to allow my husband to give him a treat. It takes a lot of love and patience for these dogs, but it is so worth it!

Dog rescue stories that end happy are my favorite kind (so much so that there is one in all three of my books). Lady is a lucky girl, as is the family who is fortunate to be loved by her. Baggage is okay. We all carry some. The important thing is finding people who love us enough to help lighten the load.

You'll get back to your WIP when you're ready. I think that sometimes a break allows the plot and characters to bake a little longer, resulting in a tastier result. When your subconscious is ready to take it out of the oven you'll get back to work. In the meantime, honing your skills with shorter stories can only help you in the long run. Sounds to me like you've got it all figured out!

So Cathy peer pressured you into adding the email widget, huh? She peer pressured me into blogging (not lying---she's the reason I started a blog). She's a smart lady, and always gives the best advice. I call her Master Yoda for a reason. :)

Yes, Cathy is like the all-powerful Oz. She's behind the curtain, pulling the levers and working the magic. Since I've never met her personally, I'll take your word for it--she has pointed ears as big as her head, huh? ;)

Cathy--There's other things I have to PUSH out, and I certainly don't want my WIP to smell like that stuff...

I hear that you do some pushing and shoving when it comes to your writer friends when they're in a rut. Thanks for the nudge about writing as well as the nudge about the box-thingy. I'm shocked that it works.